By Ahmad Hathout
Bell wants the CRTC to end a mandate that requires it to provide copper-based voice services in two small Ontario towns upon the installation of subsidized fibre networks.
The telco says in a Part 1 application made public Monday that it is “neither efficient nor in the interest of consumers” in Nairn and Fingal “to continue to impose an obligation to serve over an increasingly end-of-life copper network when consumers can obtain more reliable service using the more modern (and government-subsidized) networks while also contributing to the continued expansion and operation of those networks.”
Bell has historically been the only voice service provider in these towns and was compensated first through cross-subsidization and then through subsidies from the CRTC’s National Contribution Fund. When local voice subsidies ended, the regulator noted that the telcos could support its upkeep from broadband services that used the same infrastructure.
But that rational, Bell argues, falls apart because the revenue potential will not be the same when the company has to compete with high-speed alternatives, such as fibre and satellite offerings.
“This is true in all markets where modern alternatives exist,” Bell argues. “But there is an even more pronounced fundamental disconnect where subsidies flow to competitors to build modern networks for offering high-demand growth service, but regulatory obligations remain with unsubsidized ILECs operating end-of-life networks to sell low-demand declining services. “It is patently unfair to continue imposing the obligation to serve for voice on ILECs where competitors receive funding to build their own modern networks that compete directly with them.”
Copper networks are “costly, less performant, increasingly unreliable, and inconsistent with the Commission’s resiliency agenda,” Bell says, noting that it will not be economically viable to invest in full fibre networks in these small towns.
However, rural service provider Xplore was handed money from the Ontario government to build the next-generation networks there.
“Once the builds are complete, Bell will be competing against government-funded competitors operating modern high-speed networks, which will make continued operation of a high cost and deteriorating copper network even less economically viable going forward,” Bell argues.
